Gun Runner Has Successful Weekend as Sire

Last week, we looked at the emerging race for the leading sire title between seven-time laureate Into Mischief and the fast-rising Not This Time. In third and fourth on the table are two other younger sires, Nyquist and Gun Runner—both foaled in 2013, the year before Not This Time. Both are currently some way behind the principals but, on April 4, Gun Runner signaled that his current classic crop has the potential to carry him into the fight, with Further Ado dominating the Blue Grass Stakes (G1); Meaning and Brooklyn Blonde going one-two in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2); and Always a Runner and Paradise taking first and third in the Gazelle Stakes (G3). Incidentally, the performances by his progeny in the Santa Anita Oaks and Gazelle Stakes mean that Gun Runner now has no fewer than four daughters among the top 12 qualifiers for the Kentucky Oaks (G1). To date, this crop—his first sired at a fee of $125,000 after standing between $70,000 and $50,000 in prior seasons—has produced 13 individual stakes winners, eight graded, including champion 2-year-old filly Super Corredora; Del Mar Futurity (G1) victor Brant; and the undefeated Remsen Stakes (G2) and Risen Star Stakes (G2) winner Paladin, who headed the Derby betting before being sidelined by a condylar fracture of his right front ankle. Remarkably, though, as strong as this crop is, it still has some way to go to match Gun Runner's first crop. That crop, which has been represented by 103 starters, produced 18 stakes winners and 12 graded stakes winners—among them champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu, Preakness Stakes (G1) victor Early Voting, and other grade 1 scorers Taiba, Gunite, Society, and Cyberknife. Other grade 1 winners sired by the 2017 champion older horse and Horse of the Year in subsequent crops include champion 3-year-old colt Sierra Leone, and grade 1 winners Locked, Vahva, and Gun Pilot. Although he still sits behind Renegade and Commandment in the Derby ante-post betting, Further Ado delivered what was arguably the most spectacular performance seen on the Triple Crown trail this year. In the Blue Grass, he didn't take command until approaching the quarter pole, yet still opened a margin that grew to 11 lengths at the wire. While the Blue Grass field was not the strongest seen in a classic trial this year, it's notable that Further Ado earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 106—by some way the best for a 3-year-old in 2026. The Blue Grass was the second time Further Ado has scored a runaway win at Keeneland. On his third outing at 2, he won by 20 lengths in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight Oct. 10. Notably, though he also proved his effectiveness over the Churchill Downs surface, ending his juvenile campaign with a 1 3/4-length success in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2). In his only other start, Further Ado opened his 3-year-old season with a three-quarter-length second in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3). Further Ado is the seventh foal, sixth starter, and fifth winner for his dam, Sky Dreamer. Herself a smart performer, she won twice, finished second in the Arlington Oaks (G3) and La Lorgnette Stakes, and third in the Alywow Stakes. She previously produced Kimbear (by Temple City), a successful sprinter/miler in the United Arab Emirates, where he captured the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 (G2) and the Burj Nahaar (G3). A daughter of Sky Mesa, Sky Dreamer is a three-quarters sister to Dream Dancing (by Tapit, like Sky Mesa, a son of Pulpit), winner of the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) and Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) and, subsequently, dam of Colleen Stakes scorer Dreamaway. To Dream About, the dam of Sky Dreamer and Dream Dancing, is an unraced daughter of Monarchos and Beautiful Pleasure. The latter, a Florida-bred daughter of Maudlin (by Foolish Pleasure), earned honors as champion older mare of 1999, with victories including the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Beldame Stakes (G1), Hempstead Handicap (G1), Matron Stakes (G1), and two renewals of the Personal Ensign Handicap (G1). Although the mating that produced Beautiful Pleasure wasn't a particularly fashionable one, it did represent a proven formula. Three years earlier, the same combination of sire and dam produced Mecke, a seven-time graded stakes winner whose victories included the Turf Classic (G1T), Super Derby (G1), and Arlington Million (G1T). Beautiful Pleasure and Mecke are also half siblings to the dual stakes winner Jeb, herself a stakes winner and granddam of three additional stakes winners. The family traces back to the notable foundation mare Bloodroot, Broodmare of the Year in 1946. Bred by the Idle Hour Stock Farm of Col. E. R. Bradley, Bloodroot was by home stallion Blue Larkspur out of the imported mare Knockaney Bridge. Further Ado descends via Bloodroot's daughter Bimlette, winner of the Frizette Stakes. At stud, Bimlette produced No Robbery, winner of six of his eight starts, including the 1963 Wood Memorial Stakes. She is now ancestress of more than 100 stakes winners, including Tempest Queen (champion 3-year-old filly in 1978), Jaywalk (champion 2-year-old filly of 2018), and other grade 1 winners Tapit Trice, Balto Star, and Barbon. Bimlette's sister, the high-class runner Be Faithful, produced Lalun, who not only captured the 1955 running of the Kentucky Oaks, but also made an enduring mark on the breed as dam of Never Bend (sire of Mill Reef and Riverman) and Bold Reason (broodmare sire of Sadler's Wells and Fairy King). The family stems from the relatively uncommon H mitochondrial DNA line. Further Ado is the first stakes winner from 14 starters by Gun Runner out of mares by Sky Mesa. However, the cross of Gun Runner over mares by Sky Mesa's sire, Pulpit, and Pulpit's son Tapit has yielded another 10 stakes winners, and his stakes winner Optionality is out of a mare by Pulpit himself. Pulpit is by A.P. Indy out of a Mr. Prospector mare, and from other mares by stallions bred on that cross, Gun Runner has sired grade 1 winner Taiba (out of a mare by Flatter), and champion Sierra Leone, grade 1 winner Locked, and graded winners Life of Joy, Always a Runner, Runninsonofagun, and Shotgun Hottie, all out of mares by Malibu Moon.